I'm having trouble capturing to avi.

[wilsok]

Hello. I wanted to capture video from an older Sony Video 8 cancorder to my computer. I purchased a Wintv-PVR-350 card. It comes with Ulead Video Factory, which worked fine, however it only captures in Mpeg 2 format. As I have read here it is better to capture into AVI format for working with the files. I downloaded, and tried, several freeware capturing programs, however when I try to make the capture I get the message that the program can't start while the card is being used by another program. I don't think I have any other program using it as I disconnected everything to hook up the camcorder. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong. Also the best program to use to capture the video in AVI format. Thanks for your help.

[edDV]

Hello. I wanted to capture video from an older Sony Video 8 cancorder to my computer. I purchased a Wintv-PVR-350 card. It comes with Ulead Video Factory, which worked fine, however it only captures in Mpeg 2 format. As I have read here it is better to capture into AVI format for working with the files.

You were doing it correctly for the equipment you have. Video8 is composite
NTSC and the PVR-350 converts NTSC (composite or S-Video) to MPeg2. Ulead Factory takes the MPeg2 and converts it into a DVD. Job done.

I downloaded, and tried, several freeware capturing programs, however when I try to make the capture I get the message that the program can't start while the card is being used by another program. I don't think I have any other program using it as I disconnected everything to hook up the camcorder. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong. Also the best program to use to capture the video in AVI format. Thanks for your help.

You didn't mention the capture programs or what editing you are trying to do. AVI is a container and can use varius encoders/decoders. Better to follow the work flow Hauppauge intended (MPeg2->ULead to DVD) unless you can't get what you want with that.

[wilsok]

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to use some filters to remove some of the noise and hopefully improve the quality. As VirtualDub works with and saves AVI files I thought I should start with AVI files. Also I read that converting the files back and forth looses quality. You did not say why I am getting the message that the device is being used by another program. I would have thought that I could use the Wintv card to capture with any program. Is that not the case?.

[edDV]

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to use some filters to remove some of the noise and hopefully improve the quality. As VirtualDub works with and saves AVI files I thought I should start with AVI files. Also I read that converting the files back and forth looses quality. You did not say why I am getting the message that the device is being used by another program. I would have thought that I could use the Wintv card to capture with any program. Is that not the case?.

I don't know why you get that message. The PVR-350 only captures to MPeg2. To use the filters you import the MPeg2 file into VirtualdubMPeg or VirtualdubMod. The MPeg2 will be decoded to baseband RGB (or YUV) and the filters may be used. Then you will re-encode to MPeg2 for DVD authoring.

If you want to capture to baseband RGB or YUV you will need different capture hardware such as the non-encoding WinTV cards. Uncompressed capture consumes massive disc space unless you lower bitrate with a codec like huffyuv. You will find this approach very time consuming but may be worth it to you for original home camcorder recordings.

For me, I find Hi8 to DV format capture more than adequate for my private recordings. This requires an "analog pass-through" DV camcorder or a hardware DV capture device.

The PVR-350 also does a good job but is more intended for off air TV recording. It is efficient recording directly to DVD MPeg2 but if you need to filter, you need to accept an MPeg2 generation loss.

[Bjs]

"You did not say why I am getting the message that the device is being used by another program"

One look at your pc specs say's it all ... there's a patch for messenger for system's that dont have sp1 or sp2 ... it's the stupid "helper" that cause's the issue ... but it is so old I dont recall the kb article ... but it's on one of my cd's ... somewhere ... I got's over a thousand to go through for it .

You could use xpantispy to completely uninstall messenger , reboot , and it should be free'd .

Winavi 2 , video capture program is being given away for free ... there's a text file containing the user name and serial you need to use to register it .

Dont forget directx9 for modern capture device's , and update your vga driver's asap .

-----------------

I was going blind just reading all this crap : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811113 ... hundreds of these suckers .

[wilsok]

Thanks BJS.
My computer specs are:

Mobo: Gigabyte 81945P pro
Processor: Intel P4 Socket 775 3.0GB
Operating System: WinXP pro SP2
Video Card: Radion X700 256MB
2 DVD writers
USB Mouse, Printer and Scanner
Internet is by cable
I have a modem installed which I use for my telephone answering system.
I use PC-Cillin as my Virus Software.

I used xp antispy to uninstall Messenger, and glad to do it. I have the latest DirectX ( 9.0c) installed and the latest VGA drivers. I am able to capture video with Ulead DVD Movie Factory, that came with WinTV. I have tried virtualDub, which gives me the error message that the capture device is in use by another program. I tried a small program called Stoik Capture, which gave me the same message as vd. I tried WinAVI and That program says it can't find my capture device. I have Aida32 and could send you an output of my running devices or whatever. Thanks for all your help. You guys on this site are Awsome. Oh also I am 62 years old and semi retired.

[mats.hogberg]

AFAIK, no regular capture apps work with Hauppage PVR1/2/350 cards. WinTV is what to use. If you must filter and edit, capture at the highest q (12.000 kbps), load the video in VirtualDub Mpeg2, apply filters, frameserve to good mpeg2 encoder.

/Mats

[edDV]

Forget about the error message. Even if the error message wasn't there you are still limited to MPeg captures with the PVR series. As said above, just use high MPeg capture bitrates, decode the MPeg back to baseband and do your filtering.

[Bjs]

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_pvr250-350.html

It dose state the device dose not work with tool's that support avi capture ... it is a hardware encoder ... dosent suggest program's like ulead videostudio cant be used though as it supports mpeg capture ... something that need's testing .

Though I'd be thinking where the card is installed might cause issue's depending on the number of slots the motherboard has available to pci .

If your motherboard 3 pci , which I think it dose , then I would suggest pulling that pci modem out , and install the capture card in either pci2 or pci3 ... that's all you can have ... pci1 is reserved (shares resources with onboard agp / agp slot) .

[wilsok]

Thanks again everyone. I think I get the picture. One final question. When I convert from Mpeg2 to AVI what program would I use to have the output simular in size to the Mpeg2 file. I tried DivX and a 400mb file ended up as 70mb. I tried a DV output and it ended up 1200mb. I would like the 400mb file to end up as 400mb + or -, because the total size of the file I am working with is a 4000mb mpeg2 to fit on a dvd. I have cut that into several parts so I can adjust and work with each part. Hope this makes sense.

[edDV]

Thanks again everyone. I think I get the picture. One final question. When I convert from Mpeg2 to AVI what program would I use to have the output simular in size to the Mpeg2 file. I tried DivX and a 400mb file ended up as 70mb. I tried a DV output and it ended up 1200mb. I would like the 400mb file to end up as 400mb + or -, because the total size of the file I am working with is a 4000mb mpeg2 to fit on a dvd. I have cut that into several parts so I can adjust and work with each part. Hope this makes sense.

You use Hauppauge software to capture. You import the resulting MPeg2 file into the program you want to use. MPeg2 will be decoded by that program so you can use filters as you said you wanted. Decoding the MPeg2 file takes 15-30x the disk space while you are working on it. Then you encode to the format you want after filtering. DVD wants MPeg2.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

If you don't want to filter, you import the MPeg2 file into your DVD authoring program and make a DVD.

[mats.hogberg]

When I convert from Mpeg2 to AVI what program would I use to have the output simular in size to the Mpeg2 file.

VirtualDub can save as AVI - and what size you get, depends on what bitrate you choose when you encode it. Some codecs, like DV, has a fixed bitrate. Other, like XviD, you can set to any bitrate you want.
But why do you want the same size? It makes no sense. Like I said before, capture at highest possible bitrate (12.000 kbps). If it fits a DVD or not at this stage is unimportant, as it's going to be reencoded anyway.
Do whatever you want (filtering, cutting parts & c) then set the output to the quality you want. If you go from mpg to XviD, you're likely to end up with a smaller file.
But what is your ultimate goal? I get the impression it's a Video DVD - in that case, don't save as AVI - frameserve out to an mpeg encoder from VirtualDub to avoid unnecessary quality loss.
The alternative would be to save out as DV AVI from VirtualDub, then encode this DV AVI to mpg.

/Mats

[FulciLives]

Actually the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 can capture up to 15,000kbps even though Hauppauge says it only goes up to 12,000kbps.

So if you want to capture with the intent of re-encoding afterwards (so that you can apply some video filters etc.) then capture 15,000kbps CBR for the video and use 2 channel 16-bit 48k MP2 at 384kbps for the audio (that is the highest quality MP2 you can capture at).

For the final DVD you want to convert the MP2 audio to AC-3 and a bitrate of 256kbps seems to be the "sweet spot" for 2 channel AC-3 audio.

As for the video ... I see little reason to convert to AVI format unless perhaps you really need to do some extensive "advanced" editing. Otherwise just DEMUX the capture file (use DGMPGDec aka DGIndex) and use AviSynth and VirtualDubMod to import your edits into your AviSynth script. I have a guide on that although the guide uses an AVI file in AviSynth instead of a D2V project file but the importing of the edits is the same idea. Plus the filters for AviSynth tend to be better than that in VirtualDub. Best of all you only convert once from the captured file to your final format.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[wilsok]

Hi John. That sounds good. Could you explain why I would need to DEMUX the capture. I was not thinking of doing that as I did not think it was necessary. what will DEMUXing do for me. I have printed off your guide. Thanks.

[FulciLives]

Hi John. That sounds good. Could you explain why I would need to DEMUX the capture. I was not thinking of doing that as I did not think it was necessary. what will DEMUXing do for me. I have printed off your guide. Thanks.

I guess it depends on exactly what you plan to do after you capture ... if you only need to do simple "cut editing" like trimming the start and end and making cutting out some stuff here or there then all you need is VirtualDubMod.

You want to use an AviSynth script ... load your edits from VirtualDubMod into it ... then open the script directly into your encoder of choice.

Some encoders do audio and some don't so ... I guess it would help if you let us know what software you have or plan to use and then maybe I can write up something more specific for you to work with.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[wilsok]

Hi John. I was using the Ulead DVD Movie Factory software that came with the PVR 350. It will not let me capture at anything greater than 9200kbps. When its done I used VideoReDo plus to trim and cut out parts I did not want to get the video to a size that would fit on a DVD. I also used another program to lighten parts of the project. That all worked OK. I did find that the finnished DVD will freeze when I tried to fast forward. It also has some little colored spots or artifacts. Other than that it looks pretty good. This whole post started because I thought I could capture in AVI and use some different filters to help with the arifacts. I have been advised that the PVR 350 will only capture in mpeg2 format. Can you recommend another program to use to capture the video at a hight rate.

[FulciLives]

You only want to capture at a higher rate if you intend to filter the video then re-encode.

You have to use WinTV 2000 (provided with all Hauppauge capture cards) if you want to capture correctly.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[wilsok]

The documentation that came with the capture card was not very good. There was no information on using wintv2000 to capture and I thought I had to use the Ulead program for that. I have now captured the video with wintv2000 and that seems to work well once you figure it out. I do need to do some alterations like cutting. joining, lightening some darker parts, and removing the band of garble at the bottom. For cutting and joining I like VideoReDo, which is easy to use and does the job. For the other stuff I used TEMPGEnc express which also is easy to use and seems to do a good job. If I need more help, as Arnold says, I'll be back.

[mats.hogberg]

removing the band of garble at the bottom.

Unless you intend to play it back on a computer, this is not necessary. It will be hidden by TV overscan.

/Mats